Today his devastated family called for justice for their “wonderful boy” and said: “we just want know what happened.”

Speaking through tears at their home on the White City estate, his mother Siraad Aden, 38, said: “he was a wonderful boy, I remember everything he said. He was lovely, he looked after me. He wasn’t only a son, he was my best friend. We want justice.”

An aunt who did not want to be named said Ayub dreamed of becoming a barrister.

She said that “as far as we know” the teenager had not been involved in gangs, adding: “we just want to know what happened.

View photos: The scene in Lanfrey Place on Thursday (NIGEL HOWARD)

“The mother is still in shock. We don’t know exactly what happened to him. He was a wonderful boy.

“When he was in the house he liked to play games, and he went out to play football with his friends. His dream was to become a barrister.”

View photos: Forensic officers at the scene of a fatal stabbing in west London on Thursday (Steve Parsons/PA)

A neighbour on the estate said: “a lot of people are hurt.”

Ayub, who was studying at Hammersmith college, was the oldest child of three siblings with brother, 9, and sister, 11.